Many polymers (such as rubbers, fibers and resins) based on organic polymers are reliant on fossil fuel resources (e.g., oil) as feedstocks, are flammable, produce toxic chemicals upon degradation/burning, and have poor chemical and thermal resistance.
Carbon-based organic polymers, based on organic (carbon) chemistry, have shown considerable progress and impacts on our lives. However, they have drawbacks to be overcome. The most serious one is the reliance on oil for production, which is a limited and localized natural resource. Another disadvantage of organic polymers is the lack of thermal resistance—carbon-based bonds are broken irreversibly, leading to degradation and production of harmful chemicals. They are also in general flammable and attacked by many chemicals.
An ionomer is a polymer that comprises both electrically neutral repeating units and some fraction of ionized units, either covalently bonded to the polymer backbone as pendant moieties or as part of the polymer backbone itself. This means that most ionomers are copolymers of the neutral segments and the ionized units, which usually consist of acidic groups. The usefulness of introducing ionic bonds into organic polymers, has been recognized. Thus, the commercial organic ionomer Surlyn® (polyethylene-based ionomer), has impact properties significantly better than the parent polymer, polyethylene. Nation® (polytetrafluoroethylene-based ionomer) is widely used as membranes for fuel cells. Recently, Surlyn-type polymers have been found to self-heal after projectile puncture. Rapid closing and sealing of the holes has been attributed to the reformation of bonds (self-healing) in the melt polymer chains around the hole. This behavior is caused by the reformation of reversible bonds. However, as described above, these ionomers based on carbon-based organic polymers have similar drawbacks to the typical organic polymers.